Sessions Pledges To Crack Down On Crime And Prosecutions

In a meeting of the nation’s district attorneys in Minneapolis, Minn., U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised to rein in violent crime and to step up federal prosecutions. "We've got a lot of people who want to pass more gun laws,” he is quoted as saying in the Star Tribune, “but they are not as enthusiastic, it seems to me, about prosecuting the ones we got."

Sessions cited reports indicating that the violent crime rate in Minneapolis has increased six years in a row, reversing decades of progress. He also cited the latest numbers out of Chicago. “Yielding to the trend is not an option for America and certainly not to us,” he declared. He also remarked that he had recently sent out a directive on charging and sentencing, and concluded that, “In short, we have ended the policies that handcuffed our federal prosecutors.”

More than 250 officials from across the United States attended the conference. Sessions’ prepared remarks can be viewed here.

NRA’s Cox Takes On Congressman Over Self-Defense Remarks

Virginia Congressman Don Beyer recently wrote an opinion piece that was published by The Wall Street Journal. NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox took exception to some of Beyer’s claims and submitted his own opinion piece, as well as a letter to the editor. Although the paper chose to print neither, Cox’s response can be found on Medium.

After Beyer claims that national Right-to-Carry reciprocity would be a “recipe for disaster,” Cox points out that Virginia law already recognizes concealed-carry permits from all other states, and that it is good policy in Virginia for all the reasons why concealed-carry reciprocity is good policy for the nation.

Next, Beyer attacks the Hearing Protection Act as a “dangerous proposal” and claims that “often the sound of gunshots is what causes people to take cover and notify law enforcement.” Cox calls that “sheer nonsense,” and he points to The Washington Postfact-check on the claim.

UK May Respond To Violent Crime By Tightening Regulations On Knives

We’ve known for some time that the United Kingdom’s handgun ban, which doesn’t appear to have lowered the incidence of gun-related violence, has been followed by an increase in violent crimes committed using knives. Now, employing the strategy of doubling down on a bad decision and hoping for the best, British authorities are considering further restricting the lawful use of knives.

The Telegraph reports that Home Secretary Amber Rudd has announced a series of government proposals for tighter knife control. Objects that are already illegal to carry, such as knuckledusters and so-called “zombie knives,” would see a ban on possession that would allow police to seize them from people’s homes. One of the most wide-ranging proposals is to prohibit the delivery of knives to private residences through online sales, instead forcing buyers to pick up their purchases from an establishment that can verify their ID.

None of the proposed measures are likely to ruffle many feathers when taken individually, but they are consistent with an overall British government strategy of dismantling lawful citizens’ self-defense rights piece by piece. We hope to see more clear-thinking politicians who can recognize that the UK’s policy is giving rise to a nation of victims.

17-Year-Old Girl Stops Home Intruder

A 17-year-old Washington girl on Monday used her father’s gun to scare off a man who had entered her home.

According to local media reports, a man who had stolen a car ditched it in the girl’s neighborhood. When warned about the suspect running loose in the area, the girl called her father and asked if she could grab one of his guns for protection. Her father said she could, so she got a handgun and took it to her room with her.

She fell asleep, but woke up later to the sound of someone in her house. She grabbed the gun and hid, but the suspect soon found her. When she pulled out the gun and fired a shot, the man ran from the house.